Contemporary Art Exhibition “...for an occurrence to become an adventure...” on Show for Just One More Week
October 20, 2013
For just one more week, “...for an occurrence to become an adventure...”, the exhibition of ABLV Bank’s collection of contemporary art will be on view at Rīga Art Space. And for just one more week, the exhibition will be visited by secondary school pupils who will participate in the exhibition’s education project – interactive game. And just once more, on 25 October, viewers will have the chance to experience the theatrical performance “...for an occurrence to become an adventure...”.
27 October will be the last date on which it will be possible to visit the Rīga Art Space to view the exhibition “...for an occurrence to become an adventure...”, which introduces viewers to the collection formed by ABLV Bank for the forthcoming Contemporary Art Museum. The exhibition is complemented by a theatrical play and modern technology-based interactive game, which have attracted 2,150 schoolchildren during the first four weeks of the exhibition.
According to the exhibition’s curator Solvita Krese: “In a small format, the exhibition at the Rīga Art Space offers the opportunity to imagine the significance of the existence of a Contemporary Art Museum – it will be a place to discover the works of artists of recent decades, a place for conversation and discussion, and it will be a venue for education and potential dialogue between various artistic genres. The exhibition, the education programme, the theatrical play, the meeting with artists, and the discussion taking place in the exhibition itself about contemporary art in Latvia have found a responsive and interested public, confirming yet again that people in Latvia need a contemporary art museum.”
The exhibition “...for an occurrence to become an adventure...” introduces viewers to the contemporary art collection formed by ABLV Bank, which will become part of the Contemporary Art Museum’s collection after the museum has been built. The collection has gradually been pieced together by ABLV Bank since 2005, in collaboration with a professional International Committee of Experts, selecting outstanding works by Latvian artists, as well as important works by artists from the neighbouring region. The task of curating the first exhibition of the collection was entrusted to Solvita Krese, who as the exhibition’s leitmotif has chosen a Jean-Paul Sartre’s pronouncement “For the occurrence to become an adventure, it is necessary and sufficient for one to recount it.” The stories in the exhibition become its thread, revealing the backstage processes behind works of art, highlighting the artists’ footnotes, conversational fragments, significant events, and contemporary impressions – facts, hypotheses, rumours and guesses, which often attach unexpected context to a work of art.
The artists whose works are on view in the exhibition are: Ēriks Apaļais, Jüri Arrak, Jānis Avotiņš, Arnis Balčus, Aigars Bikše, Juris Boiko, Māra Brašmane, Evelīna Deičmane, Andris Eglītis, Gints Gabrāns, Barbara Gaile, Andrejs Grants, Dmitry Gutov, Kristaps Ģelzis, Ieva Iltnere, Kaido Ole, Oleg Kulik, Maija Kurševa, Leonards Laganovskis, Imants Lancmanis, Paulis Liepa, Katrīna Neiburga, Vygantas Paukštė, Miervaldis Polis, Inta Ruka, Krišs Salmanis, Alnis Stakle, Antanas Sutkus, Andres Tolts, Aija Zariņa, the Blue Noses Group.
Especially for the exhibition, ABLV Charitable Foundation has created an education programme – a game based on modern technologies, which will allow 9th-12th grade schoolchildren to relate works of art to the learning they derive from chemistry, physics, maths and other teaching subjects. Thus, Gints Gabrāns photon paintings enable them to learn more about breaking light rays, whereas Ieva Iltnere’s paintings help them to resolve the task of scales. During the first four weeks of the exhibition, 2,150 schoolchildren took part in the education programme. The attitude of the schoolchildren to the exhibition can be gauged from their comments on social networks: “Today, I visited a simply fantastic exhibition”, “We’re enjoying art and we like it”, “Such great memories from yesterday. The best group, a wonderful exhibition, what more can you want?”, etc.
In turn, the theatre performance “...for an occurrence to become an adventure...” is an attempt to translate the ideas of contemporary art into the language of theatre. According to one of the exhibition’s creators, director Jurijs Djakonovs: “Nowadays, we’re all tired of the surfeit of information. And we also view works of art carelessly. And it’s important that we’re given time. That which we’re trying to achieve with this theatrical play is to give the audience time to consider the impact visualization has on us.” The play is created as five episodes, which the viewer experiences, moving around the exhibition space. Among those involved in the creation of the play are directors Inese Mičule, Jurijs Djakonovs, Kārlis Freimanis, Ģirts Šolis, Vilnis Vējš, musician Rihards Zaļupe, and film critic Toms Treibergs among others. The play will be performed for the last time at 19.00 on 25 October.
Information source: http://satori.lv/raksts/6353